Abraham, Rachel, Soren and Liam. Our life together in Smalltown, Idaho.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

12 Week Parenting Challenge: Are You Interested?

Would you be interested in spending 12 weeks trying to be a better parent? Would you like to participate in a support group with other parents doing the same thing? Would you like to be able to measure, track, and share your progress?

I'm thinking about starting something like that.

I've been putting a lot of thought lately into creating a positive behavior management program for my kids, but I have a tendency to start something and use it for a few weeks, only to get distracted/lax-- and then the kids fall into their old negative behavior patterns. But I think if I had a group of like-minded parents holding me accountable, offering advice, and providing support, I might be more successful.

These are the primary goals of the program:

1) Create a safe, happy home environment that fosters growth.

2) Teach kids habits and beliefs that will enable them to become their very best selves and live loving, connected, responsible, self-sufficient, and happy lives.

3) Build a loving relationship based on trust, support, respect, and love between parents and children that will last a lifetime.

This is what I'm thinking right now for the structure of the program:

The Blog.

On the blog there will be an overview of the program, the overall goals, philosophy, structure, etc. You'll want to read that before beginning the program.

Every Sunday, I'll do a post about the parenting focus for the next week to get everyone geared up and ready to go.

You'll be able to earn points and track your progress on a spreadsheet. Because I love spreadsheets.

Facebook Support Group.

Every participant will aim to check in daily, sharing their points tally for the day and describing their triumphs and trials.

The challenge will be "closed" to new participants for the full twelve weeks, which means you'll need to sign up before it begins! But the blog content will always be open for perusal and if I have enough participation the first go-around, I might do it again.

So are you in? If you're interested, leave a message or PM me on Facebook. I'll be establishing a Facebook group soon and I'll send you an invite. :)

3 comments:

Yes, I'd love to join you. Also, have you read the book, The Power of Positive Parenting by Glenn Latham? I really like his ideas and encouraging parents to use more positive reinforcement in the little things. Good for you for setting this up.